Interclue Previews Web Pages before You Click

To combat this, sometimes it helps to be aware of the content on a page before you click the link that takes you there. Interclue can help; the app is a free Firefox extension that gives you a preview and detailed information about a page before you click the link to visit it.

Surfing the Web isn't safe just because you're using an up-to-date Web browser like Firefox or IE 7. Even when using updated browsers, you may stumble onto a page with hidden malware embedded into it, waiting to download itself to your system. To combat this, sometimes it helps to be aware of the content on a page before you click the link that takes you there. Interclue can help. The app is a free Firefox extension that gives you a preview and detailed information about a page before you click the link to visit it.

One of the best features of HHOTT View is the preview window, which allows you to browse a Web page simply by hovering over a link to it. The special view lets you see the page without executing scripts or downloading files that may be embedded on the page. Interclue operates in a similar way: by hovering over a link to a Web page, you can toggle a pop-up view that gives you a small preview of the page you'd like to visit, along with some information about the page.

Interclue reminds me of Cooliris, regardless of how much the developers want to distance themselves from simpler link preview tools. Once the extension is installed, simply hover over a link in a Web site to see an icon that you can click to bring up the page preview. The preview window stays out of the way when you're not using it, and only appears when you ask for it.

Unlike HHOTT View, Interclue doesn't try to judge the content of the site as safe or unsafe; the service provides only statistical information about the page, like the type of content you'll find on the page, a short summary of the page text, and sizes of linked files on the page. You'll also see a preview image of the page that's small and doesn't take up your entire browser window. Additionally, the Interclue preview window allows you to perform some limited actions with the page, like e-mail it to a friend or save it for offline viewing.

The Interclue icon that you click to bring up the preview window can also tell you a lot about the page behind the link. The app supports favicons, so if the link directs you to a Blogger blog or a YouTube video, you'll see the big orange "B" or the YouTube logo as the Interclue icon. When you click on it, the standard Interclue preview window opens, but it's a great way to tell at a glance what kind of content lies behind a link before even looking at the preview.

The preview window itself is customizable, and you can resize it to fit your display if you find it's taking up way too much screen real estate. When the app is running and the preview window is closed, you can toggle Interclue's options by clicking the icons in the lower-right corner of your Firefox window.

Interclue is completely free, and currently only supports Firefox 2.0 and higher. The developers claim that plug-ins for Safari, Opera, and Internet Explorer are on the way, and even invite users who prefer those browsers to sign up to be notified when Interclue is available for their browser.